Published: Sunday, August 18, 2013 at 03:46 PM.

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MOUNT HOLLY – It’s a historic week for a member of the 2013 Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame class.

Not only was Shane Trull a part of the seventh induction class for top athletic honors in his hometown, but two of his children will participate Monday in Gaston County’s newest school’s first-ever sporting event.

“Of all the things I’ve accomplished, nothing compares to watching my children play – nothing,” Trull said during Saturday’s ceremony at the Mount Holly Municipal Center.

Trull’s twin ninth-grade daughters Laura and Lexi will play volleyball for Stuart Cramer as the Storm host Bessemer City Monday at 4:30 p.m. in that school’s sports debut. The twins played four sports last season at Mount Holly Middle School.

Program-builder

The architect of East Gaston’s championship-winning wrestling program joined Trull, Charlie “Poss” Drumm and the late J.B. Thompson as 2013 individual inductees.

MOUNT HOLLY – It’s a historic week for a member of the 2013 Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame class.

Not only was Shane Trull a part of the seventh induction class for top athletic honors in his hometown, but two of his children will participate Monday in Gaston County’s newest school’s first-ever sporting event.

“Of all the things I’ve accomplished, nothing compares to watching my children play – nothing,” Trull said during Saturday’s ceremony at the Mount Holly Municipal Center.

Trull’s twin ninth-grade daughters Laura and Lexi will play volleyball for Stuart Cramer as the Storm host Bessemer City Monday at 4:30 p.m. in that school’s sports debut. The twins played four sports last season at Mount Holly Middle School.

Program-builder

The architect of East Gaston’s championship-winning wrestling program joined Trull, Charlie “Poss” Drumm and the late J.B. Thompson as 2013 individual inductees.

Coach Doug Smith’s teams won or shared a conference title in each of his 13 seasons as head coach. But Smith deflected credit – for two reasons.

He claimed he simply adapted the coaching philosophies taught him by 2007 inaugural class inductee Delmer Wiles at old Mount Holly High and East Gaston. And he credited his wrestlers (and their parents) for making those plans work.

“We had an 87 percent winning percentage,” said Smith, who was inducted by Scott Pope. “That’s a ‘we’ program. And I want to thank all of those kids for making all of those sacrifices. I also want to thank the parents of the wrestlers I had who allowed me the chance to put their kids in a position to be successful.”

Double-threat

Trull’s place as East Gaston’s all-time leading scorer seems quite secure. So does his place for county products at Belmont Abbey.

With 1,685 points in three seasons for the Warriors – local schools used the junior high concept during Trull’s years at Mount Holly Junior High and East Gaston High – his career scoring record likely only would be threatened by a four-year standout.

And with DeSean Murray’s decision last week to complete his high school career at Charlotte’s Northside Christian Academy after scoring 1,171 points in three seasons at East Gaston, Trull’s record seems very secure.

In fact, only one player is within even 300 points of Trull during his three seasons at East Gaston as Mack Green scored 1,394 points in the first three years of the school after scoring 312 as a freshman at old Stanley High School.

And Trull did so when East Gaston played in arguably the most challenging 4A conference in North Carolina. Tri-County Conference rival West Charlotte won the state title in Trull’s sophomore year of 1985-86, league rival North Mecklenburg was runner-up in his junior year of 1986-87 and both West Charlotte and North Mecklenburg advanced to the Western regionals during his senior year of 1987-88 – both losing to eventual state champion Asheville A.C. Reynolds.

“He was the best player in East Gaston history and he played during a time when East Gaston played in the best conference in the state,” said Trull’s Hall of Fame inductor Aaron Suttenfield.

Trull’s memory of those years is bittersweet, but only because of death of his Warriors coach Jim Turpin.

“After I got to high school, I had the great fortune of playing for Jim Turpin,” Trull said. “He passed away 14 years ago and that was way too soon. Not only was he a good man and a good coach, he was a great friend.”

At the Abbey, Trull’s 1,743 points in four seasons makes him the highest-scoring Gaston County product in that school’s history. Late in his senior season of 1991-92, Trull surpassed the previous record set by South Point’s Jimmy Reeves (1,697 points from 1980 to 1984).

He was recruited by then-Crusaders coach Kevin Eastman, who left the Abbey for NCAA Division I coaching jobs before starting a long career as a NBA assistant coach.

Mount Holly High’s first boys basketball championship team was represented by Drumm, who remains active playing the sport even at 80 years old. “While he played at Mount Holly and Lees-McRae (Junior) College, his interest in sports didn’t end after college,” said Drum’s inductor Aaron Suttenfield. “In fact, it grew even stronger.” A three-sport standout in high school and a Korean War veteran, Drumm has been honored numerous times in the years since then for basketball and golf….

J.B. Thompson died in 1980, but not until after playing football at three levels – at Mount Holly High in the early 1930s, at N.C. State College from 1934 to 1937 and for the Charlotte Clippers semipro team. “Football was his game, his sport and he played well on three levels,” said his son Gene Thompson, who accepted the induction on his father’s behalf – and after longtime neighbor Will Crist inducted J.B. Thompson….

Veteran Mount Holly News reporter Sarah Nixon was most known for her news column called “Personally Mentioned” that ran from the 1960s until she retired in 2007. But she admitted being a bigger sports fan than she said she was given credit for – and was happy that writing about the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame was one of the final stories of her career. “I remember the excitement that this created when I wrote about it,” said Nixon, who was introduced by Eddie Wilson. “I want to commend the committee that gotten this event together and made it bigger and better each and every year I’ve come to it.”

You can reach Richard Walker at 704-869-1841 or by twitter.com/JRWalk22